If He Failed
by NormanWhitesmith
Summary: What if Mario couldn't bring himself to fight Super Dimentio in fear of hurting Luigi? Now Mario lives in a twisted broken world that seems like it was designed specifically for torturing him, serving King Dimentio and Mr. L. Is there still hope?
1. Chapter 1- Traitor

_Norman Whitesmith here to bring you chapter 1 of "If He Failed". This story is going to be continued after I finish Kitsune Curse (unless things change between now and then), but for now I'm going to give you the first chapter of this idea I had that was somewhat based off of chapter two of a Mario fanfic called "Bad Game Over's", I believe it was. This is also my first T rated fanfiction, as it is a few steps up on the darkness scale from the other stories I have written before. To start off, I absolutely love the character of Mr. L, but Nintendo doesn't really seem to feel the same way as he only appeared once. And unfortunately, with his one appearance, Nintendo didn't capitalize on his inner most thoughts or anything of the sorts that would give us a better idea of this character, but rather just gave us the surface of the guy. Unfortunately, this story isn't going to be focused on Mr. L, but rather Mario and Luigi. Mr. L is going to be part of this, but unfortunately, not as huge of a part. But if I have another half asleep idea with Mr. L in it, I'll be sure to write it! I tried to draw up my own cover here, but unfortunately all cameras I own are trash and don't do the picture any justice. But then again, I'm not the best artist in the world either, especially with my chronically shaky hand that twitches at the worst possible moments, causing me to have to compensate with thickening lines. I'm also drawing up cover art for "King L" and "Kitsune Curse". Let's just leave this art as "I was trying". But either way, this is a story based on the idea of "what if Mario failed to fight Super Dimentio?" This is really just the first chapter to see how much interest is in the story before the full one starts to get written. And I've never played Super Paper Mario, so the dialogue won't be word for word where it's relevant, but I do know the story well enough to not make a giant mess of everything. But without further ado, here's chapter 1._

Chapter 1: Traitor

Dull and worn out light shone through a tiny window of Castle Bleck, barely giving off enough light to guide two heroes upon their path. Mario trudged through the decaying halls that screamed of death, alongside his little brother, Luigi. Mario was five years the senior of Luigi and couldn't help but rush to his little brother's side when he collapsed onto the tile moaning and clasping his head, tears flowing freely from his tightly shut eyes. Mario couldn't help but hold his brother's head in his lap and run his fingers through his hair. A sudden tremor that shook the large castle's very foundations increased Mario's concern. Ever since he found Luigi half dead in the Underwhere and managed to make it to the regular world, Luigi started having mind breaking migraines. They had already lost three of their other friends and the butterfly pixl named Tippi was nowhere to be seen after she ran off ahead in an excited hurry. Mario sighed before putting on his best smile and trying to get Luigi's attention, who was lost in his own world of pain and didn't seem to be responding until he finally opened his clouded blue eyes that were lost in a different reality as he began to gasp for breath.

"C'mon, Luigi," said Mario in the most positive voice he could muster, "Just a little bit further! I know you can do it!"

Mario knew he was lying through his teeth, but the world needed to be saved and there was no possible way that he was just going to leave his little brother sitting alone in this Godforsaken castle. If they could just stop Count Bleck, the void would close and everything would be right again, right? Mario had to hold onto this hope and trust that Luigi could make it to the end without his game ending.

"M-M-Mario," gasped out Luigi, his eyes focusing on nothing in particular, "Please, make them stop. Make the voices stop!"

' _Screw it, he isn't going to last that long. I can't force him to do this any longer. Minions inhabit this castle, so there needs to be a bed somewhere. Heck, even villains like Bowser aren't cruel enough to force their minions to sleep on the cold floor.'_

Mario hoisted up Luigi in his arms bridal style and started to look in various rooms, hoping he could find a bedroom with enough time to spare before the end of all worlds. Luigi didn't react to being picked up and continued to mutter nonsense as his concerned brother carried him. Finally he found a bedroom that was oddly decorated with posters of hot men and other colorful girly things. This would have to do, so Mario lay Luigi down on the bed and tucked him in gently, while praying to Grambi that the owner of said room wouldn't return anytime soon. As Mario was leaving the room, he saw a diary sitting on the brightly embellished bed stand and felt like reading it, but unfortunately saving the world from a seemingly unstoppable void in a limited amount of time made reading it an impossibility. Mario gave one last backwards glance at Luigi, who had luckily drifted off into a fitful sleep when he was put down. He had to protect him. He was the one who made waking up every morning worth it and Mario had protected him ever since they came to this strange land, and there was no way that he was going to let him get any more hurt than he already was. Mario had no idea how wrong he was.

XxX

"GREEEEEEEN," screeched the abomination in front of the reunited party.

Mario stared and a single tear came out of his eye as he looked upon the monster his little brother had become. All those times he never let him on an adventure was to protect him from something like this happening. Luigi had involuntarily revealed that he was Mr. L (which Mario felt strong guilt that he had beat up his little brother multiple times and almost killed him when he caused the brobot to self destruct.) after he finally woke up from his nap somewhat refreshed and against his will, Luigi ran over to Dimentio's side, parts of his body twitching as he fruitlessly tried to fight the floro sprout that protruded from his skull and controlled his motions. It was only a matter of seconds before Luigi was fused with the heart of pure chaos and started to grow into the monster that was before them now. Luigi's skin turned pitch black as his hair turned white and his limbs began to stretch themselves into unholy terrors. After his transformation was complete, Super Dimentio (dubbed by none other than Dimentio), completed itself by fusing with Dimentio.

The entire party of heroes shuddered in fear of the freak in front of them and watched in horror as it began to laugh and walk towards them. Peach and Bowser both knew they were no match for this beast and knew that Mario alone could stop it. But little did they know that the famed hero of their world was fighting his own inner demons and couldn't spare any more strength.

Mario sighed. His little brother, only twenty years old, was almost killed by him. Flashes of scenes where Mr. L's bloodied face twisted in pain after a fight haunted Mario. He was a horrible brother. Mario looked at the slowly advancing "monster" that he had to fight. Or did he? If he just gave up then, perhaps Dimentio would let Luigi go and the two brothers could be together. After all, maybe Dimentio wouldn't be too bad of a ruler. Sometimes the best way to win is not to play, right?

"Dimentio," said Mario as he stepped forward, hands up in the air showing surrender, "I give up. Please make me your servant in the new world."

Super Dimentio stopped in its tracks as it looked down with pure confusion on its face. Suddenly a giant mangled grin contorted on its face and it reached out a hand and snatched up Mario, who made no attempts to stop it.

"NOOO!" cried out Peach, "Mario, what are you doing? The worlds are at stake!"

Another tremor from the approaching end shook the building and caused rubble to fall from the ceiling. Mario just stared blankly from his position in the palm of Super Dimentio's hand as his former friends tried to avoid the falling. Mario gave Peach a small and sad smile as she continued to stare at him in utter shock betrayal and disappointment.

"I'm sorry, Peach," replied Mario with a small sheepish chuckle, "My world is at stake."

Everything suddenly went black as the end consumed everything, Mario only feeling as if he was being pulled apart for a second before a barrier of darkness formed around him and Super Dimentio, keeping them safe. However safe inside the barrier was, that didn't stop Mario from seeing what was going on outside as all of his friends got ripped limb from limb, their blood and innards spraying the barrier as the world disappeared. Faces of people he tried to protect for the longest time were frozen in horror as they watched their bodies get destroyed. Mario didn't care. He was sitting in the palm of what was supposed to be his brother, so nothing could be wrong. Peach. Bowser. Tippi. Bleck. Names that held no meaning anymore as the world lapsed into darkness, their blood even disappearing off the barrier as the end finally completed its destruction. The worlds were blissfully black and void. Then Super Dimentio waved one of its hands and existence solidified once again.

 _And that's chapter one. Once again, the next chapters aren't going to be written for awhile and this is more to see how much interest is going to be in my future stories. Man, guilt can make people monsters. Please criticize my work and tell me what you think and where I need to improve it, if you could find mistakes (which there are probably loads of them). I'll be honest here and say that this wasn't my best writing, but I was trying. The writing isn't as strong here as it will be in the rest of the story and that is because I had plot points for everywhere but the beginning other than "Mario gives up". The cover is actually based on a later on part in the story. So I pretty much made everything up as I wrote this. The next chapters in the future will be better. I have nothing else to say other than review, so until next time, Norm out. And don't forget that people are monsters. Not all people, but most of them._


	2. Chapter Two- Creation Corrupted

_Norman back again! I know I said I was going to continue this when I was done with Kitsune Curse, but plans changed and I'm just trying to get multi-chaptered stuff finished and this is a shorter story that I've figured out already, so I'm not going to wait to write it. This is a T rated story and for this chapter, there will be mentions of sex, but nothing too explicit. There is of course the usual violence and disturbing themes. Those things are out of the usual in my stories, so I'm just putting the warning out right now. I'm just going to dive right into it, so without further ado, ladies and germs, Chapter two._ _And also, a special thanks to Space Dimentio for helping proofread the first section._

XxX

Chapter Two- Creation Corrupted

XxX

Mario opened up his weary eyes and looked about the plain and monotonous white room. Directly to his left was 'Peach'. This of course wasn't the real Peach, as the real one perished in the rebirth of a better world, but King Dimentio had been feeling generous and created her to be Mario's wife. While Mario questioned the validity of the marriage in his mind, he didn't dare say it aloud and kept it to himself. But as with everything else in the new world, Peach just wasn't spot on.

She had random sharp points throughout her body, sticking up and even sharp enough to draw blood, but Peach didn't notice. It was as if she was a product of a corrupted model of someone else. Among that were other more obvious problems, such as her having an extra arm, having a third eye above her right one, and even six fingers on one hand. Mario, however, didn't complain.

Mario quickly sat up as he gained conciousness and exited the stiff white bed and sheets that provided no comfort. That was, in fact, a phrase that could be used to describe everthing else, but Mario didn't pay any mind to it. He quickly went over to the blocky white dresser, opened up the top drawer and pulled out his work uniform: a black tuxedo and a red tie, accompanied by black shoes that had to be polished to the nines. Mario put on the uniform before grabbing a comb off his dresser and doing up his unruly hair to the best of his ability, his hair always refusing to lose the cowlicks; his mustache also fighting back against the comb and never truly looking well-kept.

Luckily, King Dimentio didn't seem to care too much about that particular area and let it be. Mario quickly picked up the white pajamas that he had worn and placed them in the spot of the tuxedo in the drawer before closing it.

"What a lovely morning, my dear!" said Peach as she automatically woke up from Mario's abscence, her voice sounding as it typically did: like a parrot being dragged through a fan.

Mario said nothing as he went over and kissed Peach roughly before mumbling quickly. "I'm off," Mario stated quietly.

Peach kissed back, an afforementioned sharp point on her lip nicking Mario's cheek, giving it a small cut just like always.

Mario left the house quickly and looked at the bleak world that was outside. Everything was a pure white, even the sky, making everything look the same. This was how Super Dimentio decided things should look and would be best looking. Everything seemed to be white, blocky, and with weird sharp points throughout. Everything looked as corrupted as Peach did, minus color. In reality, Mario hated being around Peach. While King Dimentio had said he felt like being kind as he created her, Mario knew her true purpose. Her true purpose was to keep an eye on Mario and report to Dimentio if he even moved an inch out of line with what he wanted.

And even making love, which King Dimentio had insisted upon to seal the matrimony and companionship, was dull and lifeless. She was too stiff and unreactive for it to be remotely enjoyable.

Mario came up to the stream that was about a mile away from the castle and went on top of the bridge that was luckily there. Mario, one day early in this creation, had wanted to perhaps play in the stream, but upon dipping a single pinky toe in, Mario found that the stream had to be made of acid instead of water as his toe burned. Dimentio lopped off the toe mercilessly when he found Mario and warned Mario about touching the 'water'. As Mario in the present began to cross, he only looked further ahead, ignoring the liquid spraying up dangerously close to him.

In reality, this cold and unfamiliar world seemed to suck all the caring out of Mario. Everything was the same and all the days blended together in the same white color. All Mario wanted was to get to work on time and do what King Dimentio and Mr. L (who was also considered a king here, but the name King Mr. L wasn't very good and King L sounded like it had already been done somewhere else, so it was left as Mr. L) wanted him to do. A large cluster of flaming red welts on Mario's chest showed what happened if he was late.

Soon, the castle came into Mario's view and blocked out everything else. Contrasting the bright white of the rest of the monotonous landscape was the giant black castle that was like a spear pointing into the sky, as if the castle itself were conquering it. Mario trudged forwards and eventually reached the unguarded front gates and walked in. What was the point of having guards if only four beings were in existence at the time, two of them being kings, and the other two being undoubtedly loyal?

Mario met the rainbow colored interior with tired apathetic eyes and continued on into the main throne room.

"Well well, if it isn't Mr.Jumps-a-lot. I'm here because King Dimentio is off creating a small village to expand our world, so I'll be giving you your job this morning. It's the same as usual."

Mr. L narrowed his eyes as he spoke to Mario. What especially bothered Mr. L was how long Mario would stare at him directly into his eyes. Mr. L was aware of who he used to be, the loser Luigi, and that Mario loved him more than anything else. However, Mr. L kept the small voice that he knew to be Luigi crying for help, far back and isolated in the dark recesses of his mind where Luigi wouldn't dare to come out of. Mario, however, didn't quite know of this dilema, yet still tried to bring Luigi back in little ways- searching for comfort in the stranger inhabiting his little brother's body. Mr. L knew that Mario was looking into his eyes for a single trace of blue.

A sudden slap brought Mario back into the harsh reality, Mr. L's glove stinging Mario's cheek.

"And if you shall stare at me any longer, I will get the whip and show you no mercy."

Mario instantly adverted his gaze from the younger man to the floor. He was dealing with troubles of his own, wanting to believe that Mr. L was still his brother, albeit a bit rougher, yet conflicted on how to act.

"Y-yes, sir, Mr. L," Mario stuttered, staring at the floor.

Luckily, Mr. L seemed to accept this response and shoved Mario's morning work tools into his arms: paint buckets and an old worn out brush.

"Get to your work in the gardens now. I will be along with your provisions in a moment, NOW MOVE!"

Mario obediently marched away from Mr. L, holding his paint buckets and brush as he went to complete the work in the gardens that was the same each morning. Everything in the new world was white with few exceptions. The castle garden bore the unfortunate white color and as scheduled for every day, both kings liked to sit in the garden for an hour and enjoy it together. But there was one main problem with this and that was that nobody would want a white garden with no distinguishing features. Thus, Mario came in. Each morning he had to take the buckets and paint away the white in the garden, providing it a temporary color.

But why didn't the color stay? In the twisted and warped new world, a rain settled over the castle at the exact same time each day. As the river was of acid, so was this rain- potent, and destructive. All color was washed away before morning, making Mario's job repetitive, yet the punishment horrific enough if he didn't get the job done in time. The various burns across Mario's scarred flesh showed just what the rain could do even if one was given slight shelter.

Mario hurriedly shuffled over to the garden exit of the castle and got to work, him not even noticing as Mr. L came into the garden and set a meager glass of water on the bench. Needless to say, when Mario gave up everything assuming Dimentio would give him his brother back and let them live in peace together, he was wrong. Luigi never came back, nor was he going to. And the glass of water wasn't a show of kindness, but merely the water Mario was allowed to have in the hours he had to spend painting the garden; the small glass meaning to last him the entire morning.

Mario began his work like he always did, begining by painting with the browns on the trunks of trees and on the soil and benches. Within painting the flowers themselves came a certain degree of freedom where Mario could do what he wanted with color (within certain perameters of reason, of course), however, the rest of the garden was inspected mercilessly and like with everything else, if it were done wrong, punishment would come. Soon, after finishing the browns, Mario took a swig of water before making sure nobody was looking, then quickly dashing to a certain area of a garden.

Mario moved a small box to reveal a daisy growing out of the white corrupt soil. Not a corrupted daisy, but a real one, growing just like they used to in old creation. It brought wonder to Mario's heart how in the midst of everything being corrupted and without hope how something so pure and untouched still managed to thrive. However, Mario had to help it. When he first found it, Mario covered it up and made sure King Dimentio couldn't find it, as he would surely destroy it. Every single day, Mario would only take some of his water before giving the rest to the single daisy, giving it some light and water each morning.

Mario, after waiting for the daisy to have a sustainable amout of light, put the box back over the daisy and finished his morning's work. It was surprisingly hot without too much of a discernable sun and while the water would have been useful, Mario knew the flower needed it more. The one thing that could bring hope to Mario's otherwise completely apathetic view needed it more.

XxX

Mario continued to do various work around the castle as King Dimentio, who had returned from his outing, and Mr. L sat in the garden together. Luckily, he had completed satisfactory work within the allotted time and was allowed to come inside and do less strenuous work like the various house keeping tasks. The paint was still a mystery to Mario as to where it came from because he never saw more buckets as he cleaned the castle from top to bottom, but Mario decided to dismiss it since it couldn't be important. It was simply his job to paint and he didn't need to question where it came from.

Continuing to clean, Mario's mind went back into the dull thundering thoughts of what his life once was, mourning how much he had lost. Nothing mattered; even Dimentio going out and creating new life was just for show, much like Peach, and wasn't real and true life. They were like simple computer programs only designed to do basic things, yet not carry individulal thought processes.

"Oh Mario, your prescence is required in the garden."

The melodious, yet taunting voice could only belong to one: King Dimentio.

This was highly unusual and Mario had a sinking feeling.

XxX

Mario walked beside the jester king within his painted handiwork.

"So what do you think of my creation?" asked Dimentio as he floated along beside Mario.

"It's beautiful," said Mario quietly, not knowing what was to happen next.

"I'm glad you think so. I wanted to do more, but unfortunately white was what I could muster for most areas of the world... but anyways, how do we keep this perfect creation beautiful?"

Mario thought carefully, knowing that answering in a way that didn't please Dimentio could end him. "You need to maintain it?..."

Dimentio laughed. "While that may be true, there's more to the answer. You need to eliminate anything that can change the perfection and taint it. So I was wondering, is there anything tainting this perfect world right now?"

Mario answered quickly. "No."

Another laugh from Dimentio. "I'm afraid there was something imperfect though. While you have been my obedient servant, I'm afraid Mr. L had something deep within him that had possibility to ruin it all. As the saying goes, a rotten apple can spoil the whole barrel. While there may be only two apples in this hypothetical barrel, you and Mr. L, I'm afraid there was something that could possibly spoil you."

Mario felt sick to his stomach, but couldn't freeze up and continued walking with the king.

"Mr. L is perfectly loyal to me, and a good king at that, but something needed to change so the rotten part of his core couldn't spread to you."

Dimentio snapped his fingers and a pair of black doors appeared in front of Mario on a blank part of the garden wall.

"I simply had to remove the rotten part and eliminate it to preserve this, as you call it, 'perfect' world."

Mario, knowing he had to enter the doors or face punishment moved towards the gaping black planks with feet and hands of lead. Mario reached up to the door with a hand and opened it.

Mario lost the contents of his stomach as soon as he saw what was inside.

Inside was Luigi, nailed to the wall. Behind him was a cross painted crudely in black paint against the wall, Luigi's hands being nailed to the ends of the horizontal line. Luigi was clearly dead, with his skin blue and blood bathing his unmoving body. Luigi had been crucified and at his feet lay the daisy Mario had tried so hard to take care of, crumpled as if it were stomped on, the flower already smashed and wilting.

XxX

 _And that's probably up there as one of the most disturbing things I've ever written. I've never done something like this chapter before and I didn't bother to write Dimentio's certain way of talking, so please excuse me there. I have nothing else to say except to review and let me know how I did and how you think I did on setting up this post-appocalyptic world. Please review! I have nothing else to say, so Norm out. And don't forget to love your enemies. It will confuse them greatly._


End file.
